Senator Adams on the Stop, Question, and Frisk Database

NYS Senator Eric Adams is joined by Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, and Several Elected Officials to introduce legislation to regulate the NYPD Stop, Question, and Frisk Database

On May 23, Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to announce the introduction of legislation in the NYS Senate and Assembly to regulate an NYPD database that keeps on file the names of millions of innocent New Yorkers, 80% of whom are black or Latino. New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman and several city and state legislators were present to voice support of the new legislation. Currently, the NYPD maintains a database of the names of stopped individuals, even when no charge is filed and no arrest is made.

Senator Adams states: “The NYPD maintains a database of people who have been stopped, questioned, and frisked, even if those persons are innocent of any wrongdoing. This is an unconstitutional, un-American invasion of privacy. People of color are especially victimized: more than 80% of those stopped are black or Hispanic.

“What is the intrinsic value of a program under which fewer than 6% of those stopped are arrested and fewer than 2% are found to be carrying weapons?

“The police must desist from maintaining information on individuals arrested after street stops but cleared subsequently of criminal charges. The police must cease compiling a database of those not even arrested or given a summons after being stopped, questioned, and frisked. The police must purge their current database of the names of innocents.”